SAFETY & SECURITY ON CAMPUS
When you live on campus, your safety and security is our top priority. We have many security measures in place, but we know that safety is a shared responsibility. Let’s work together to make your on-campus experience a safe and enjoyable one.
Here are some of the things we do to make residential experience as safe as possible for everyone:
- Campus Safety is on call 24/7/365 to help with any emergency.
- We maintain at least two levels of security to access a student’s room in the residence halls.
- Resident Assistants and Campus Safety Officers conduct a minimum of three nightly security rounds in each campus community. These aren’t your grandmother’s bed checks, but instead general safety walkthroughs of the communities.
- Resident Assistants on duty are stationed every night from 7pm to Midnight in the Office of Residence Life.
- A team of live-in staff members – from students to professional staff – is available in each community and on call every day of the year. Our staff is always available and equipped to help students through any number of college transition issues, personal crises, maintenance emergencies, and more. Residence Life employees are also trained to summon police, fire, medical, and maintenance assistance when needed.
- Residences are equipped with fire-safety equipment, including monitored fire alarm systems, automatic fire sprinkler systems, and smoke detectors and/or heat sensors that activate the central fire alarm system. Staff also has protocols for how to handle emergencies from building fires to severe weather and everything in between.
- Campus residence hall and apartment doors have peepholes so you can view who is at your door before opening it.
- Our team of custodians take pride in their work and keep our halls – your Coker home – clean, safe, and comfortable. We also have our own maintenance team to address facilities issues in a timely manner, including emergencies occurring after hours.
Because we all play a role in keeping our community safe, here’s some things that we highly recommend to all our residents:
- Report any concerns to your community staff immediately. If something doesn’t seem right, let us know. Remember, if you see something, say something.
- Always lock your door no matter how short of a time you’ll be away from your apartment or residence hall room, even if your roommates are home.
- Always confirm who is at your door before opening it. Use the door peephole and ask people to identify themselves before opening the door. All staff will have proper identification and uniforms on and/or identify themselves while in residential communities for cleaning or maintenance reasons.
- Do not prop open doors or let people you don’t know to follow you into your building. It’s never a good idea to sacrifice safety for convenience.
- Door cardswipes, door peepholes, and door locks are in place for your safety and security. Do not disable these mechanisms for convenience.
- Emergency exits are marked for your safety and well-being. Let’s leave those signs where they are; no need to take them down.
- You are responsible for your guests and their behavior in the community.
- As you move around campus, travel with a friend and remain on lighted and well-traveled pathways. Contact Campus Safety for an escort to your on-campus location.
- Remain vigilant and aware of your surroundings.
- Save the Campus Safety phone number in your phone – 843-383-8140.
- Make sure your bike is securely locked to a bike rack on campus.
- Let’s all be good neighbors and look out for one another. If you know of a student or situation of concern, you can also report it to any professional staff member.